One of the nice things about being an Oregon open water swimmer is that you can extend the summer swimming season into September, and see part of Oregon and California that many of us may have never been to before.

The Rogue Valley Race Group runs the Tri Sport Weekend at Lake of the Woods between Ashland and Klamath Falls on Saturday and Sunday, September 8-9. They have both 3000 meter and 1500 meter events as part of their festival on Saturday.

This year these two events are part of the OMS Open Water Series, and are the last of Oregon’s open water swims for the year. The Southern Oregon Masters Association (SOMA) has agreed to help with the swimming events.

What’s neat about the swims is that you are in a lovely lake in the Siskiyou Mountains, surrounded by pine trees. Most of the other swimmers are triathletes in wet suits, and you do have to run out of the water to a finish line up the beach.

A few years ago Mike Carew and I swam in this event, and then drove afterwards to Redding, CA, to do the Whiskeytown Open Water Swims the next day. The races start from Brandy Creek Beach, and the two mile swim goes behind two islands, making it hard to get lost.

Mike and I were standing on the beach after the two mile, still wet, discussing our swims with other Oregon Masters swimmers, when we heard the call for the one mile swim, less than a half an hour after we had finished the first. We looked at each other, finished our hydration, and got back in the water for the one mile. It was quick and fun!

The Redding Swim Club AquaDucks USA swim team puts on the Whiskeytown events. The event information is not yet on-line (as of July 10) through https://www.pacificmasters.org/content/open-water-swims. Keep checking if you want to do the double on the weekend of September 8-9.

Whiskeytown gives great awards. I have two very large coffee cups from the one meet I went to. Mike Carew has many more than that. Attend both Lake of the Woods and Whiskeytown if you can.